Son Of Black Veteran Slain By Cops Vows To Keep Fighting For Justice

How could federal prosecutors not see evidence of police wrongdoing?

The son of a military veteran who was killed by the White Plains, New York police refused to go away quietly after federal prosecutors decided not to file criminal charges against the officers who killed his mentally ill father.

“The problem with the DOJ’s decision to close the case surrounding my father’s death is with the law, itself and not the evidence. Federal Prosecutors and the Court only focus was on the last seconds where all the witnesses, who are of course all police, testified and alleged that my father posed an imminent threat to life,” Kenneth Chamberlain Jr. said on Facebook.

In 2011, the elder Kenneth Chamberlain, 68, was home alone when he accidentally pressed his medical alert butoon. The former corrections officer told the responding police that he didn’t need help and declined to open his door. The officers, however, refused to leave and got into a 90-minute standoff with the him, insulting the elderly man with racial slurs. After he armed himself with a knife, the cops broke down the door and shot him with a Taser and beanbag ammunition before fatally shooting him with a gun. After all of that, the U.S. attorney found insufficient evidence for criminal charges, ABC News reported.

Kenneth Chamberlain Jr. blamed the officers for creating the situation “with their lack of professionalism, disrespectful, egotistical and racist behavior.” He called for “reform minded” judges and prosecutors who “believe in rule of law because it clearly was not adhered to in this case.” He has good reason to be bitter. In addition to that, a Westchester County, New York jury in 2016 rejected a $21 million federal wrongful death lawsuit, concluding that the officers did not use excessive force against Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. It wasn’t immediately clear what he plans to do next in his search for justice.